Happy Holidays from CAAS!
Fall 2015 Programming
Asian American Studies Faculty Research Series
This fall semester we continued the faculty research talks to highlight the critical Asian American studies scholarship Center faculty research. Dr. Madeline Hsu, former CAAS director and associate professor in history, presented in September on the topic of “Family History as National History.” Her second monograph,
The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority, was published earlier this year. Dr. Eric Tang, core faculty and assistant professor in African and African diaspora studies, spoke about his new book,
Unsettled: Cambodian Refugees in the New York City Hyperghetto and the current refugee crisis. Read
The Daily Texan coverage of the event
here. The final talk of the semester was with Dr. Madhavi Mallapragada, core faculty and associate professor in radio-television-film, discussing her new research on “Asian Americans and Multiculturalism in Contemporary US Media.”
The Daily Texan wrote about the event
here. Many thanks, to the Multicultural Engagement Center for hosting these talks. Follow CAAS’
Facebook page,
Twitter or
weekly digest to find out when next semester’s talks are scheduled.
Photo Credit: Matt Robertson | Daily Texan Staff
The State and Sexual Politics
CAAS and the
Department of Sociology hosted a talk and discussion on “The State and Sexual Politics” with Dr. Chaitanya Lakkimsetti from Texas A&M and Dr. Hae Yeon Choo from University of Toronot Mississauga. Dr. Lakkimsetti discussed her article “”HIV is Our Friend”: Prostitution, Biopower, and the State in Postcolonial India” with anthropology PhD student Aniruddhan Vasudevan as the discussant. Dr. Choo spoke about her article, “Intimacy at the Crossroads: Regulating Love between American GIs and Filipina Migrant Hostesses in the Camptown Clubs in South Korea” with sociology PhD student Erika Grajeda as the discussant.
Film Screening & Discussion: A Village Called Versailles 
The Center partnered with the
Austin Asian American Film Festival to screen the powerful documentary
A Village Called Versailles about the Vietnamese American community in a New Orleans neighborhood that organized to rebuild their community after Hurricane Katrina. A Q&A followed the screening with film director S. Leo Chiang via Skype. Special thanks, to CAAS lecturers Drs. Alex Cho and Curran Nault for leading the discussion.
CAAS Graduate Student Group
This semester CAAS reached out to UT graduate students interested in Asian American studies to create a space to collaborate and discuss similar research interests. The Center held its first event, a grad student meet-and-greet, in November. If you are an interested graduate student wanting to get involved,
email us. We plan on hosting more events in the spring semester.
Community News
Asian American Voices
CAAS partnered with
UT Counseling and Mental Health Center to offer a weekly discussion group to talk about the experiences of being an Asian American student at UT. The goal of the group is to provide Asian American students a space to explore topics that affect day-to-day life and to support one another. Dr. Mona Ghosheh and Chandni Shah from the Counseling and Mental Health Center led the weekly discussion group. Read
The Daily Texan’s coverage of the Voices group
here. The group will return at the beginning of the spring semester, every Wednesday from noon-1:30pm at BUR 560.
Photo Credit: Jack DuFon | Daily Texan Staff
ACE Foundation Awards Student Scholarships
The Asian Community & Education Foundation, a local nonprofit whose mission is to ensure the growth and success of Austin’s Asian American community through education and financial support, awarded three Asian American studies majors each a $500 scholarship. This year’s student recipients were Shenwei Chang, Rachel Dady, and Irlee Nguyen. These students were presented their award at the Asian American Resource Center Gala in November.
KLRU’s Civic Summit: Austin’s Asian American Community
Core faculty member Dr. Snehal Shingavi and CAAS advisory committee member Richard Jung were panelists on KLRU’s in studio civic summit discussing the challenges Asian Americans face and common misconceptions about this community. Asian American Resource Center nonprofit executive director Esther Chung Martin moderated the discussion. View the full taping
here.
People at CAAS
CAAS Core Faculty Promotions
Congratulations to Drs. Eric Tang, Madeline Hsu, and Sharmila Rudrappa on their promotions, effective September 1, 2016. Hsu and Rudrappa have been promoted to full professor. Tang has been promoted to associate professor with tenure. View a full list of the Center’s core faculty, affiliated faculty and teaching affiliates
here.
CAAS Graduate
Congratulations to Asian American Studies major Irlee Nguyen on graduating from UT Austin this December. Nguyen also majored in English and is a McNair Scholar. She plans on applying to graduate schools to further her research interests in literature and Asian American studies. Interested in being an Asian American Studies major? Learn more
here.
New Student Staff
Undergraduate student Ashley Park started working at the Center in August as the new student associate. Park is a double major in International Relations and Global Studies (IRG) and Asian Studies. She helps with student outreach and general office duties at the Center. Madiha Haque is the new graduate student assistant hired to help with graduate student programming. Haque is a master’s student in Asian Studies focusing on modern South Asia and Urdu language. CAAS is lucky to have both on board!
Core Faculty Updates
The University of Texas at Austin and the South Asia Institute will host the fourth Himalayan Studies Conference (HSC IV) on February 25-28, 2016. The conference is organized by the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies (ANHS) and convened by
Dr. Heather Hindman, CAAS core faculty and associate professor in Asian studies. For more information on the conference and registration, visit:
https://hscaustin.wordpress.com
NYU Press published CAAS director
Dr. Sharmila Rudrappa’s second book
Discounted Life: The Price of Global Surrogacy in India. Rudrappa discussed her research on
Office Hours, a podcast that talks with top social scientists about their research and the social world, and
The Brian Lehrer Show.
Dr. Nancy Stalker, associate professor in the departments of Asian studies, history, and Asian American studies and core faculty member at the Center for Women’s & Gender Studies received a UT Faculty Research Award Fellowship in Spring 2015. In June, she participated in the Smithsonian’s travel program as Japan faculty expert. She continues to work on her monograph on the 20th century globalization of ikebana, the art of flower arrangement, and on
Devouring Japan, a volume she is editing on Japanese cuisine based on a conference she organized at UT, which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
Dr. Eric Tang was named one of
TRIBEZA’s people of the year 2015. Temple University recently published his first book
Unsettled: Cambodian Refugees in the New York City Hyperghetto. A percent of all book sales in 2015 will be donated to support the work of
Mekong NYC. Tang visited the Asian American Writers’ Workshop to talk about why he wrote the book. Read more about his visit
here.
Alumni Stay Connected to CAAS
Did you graduate from The University of Texas in Asian American Studies? CAAS wants to hear from you! Please
email us with your contact information on where you are and what you’re up to.
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